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11/15/2006 12:00:00 PM
New Zealand
Opua, Bay of Islands

New Zealand

Hard to believe that 2 1/2 months ago we arrived in Opua, Bay of Islands/New Zealand, after a fabulous 6 day passage from Tonga,

!!!Pictures of Tonga and New Zealand are on the internet now!!!!

Hallo everybody,

Hard to believe that 2 1/2 months ago we arrived in Opua, Bay of Islands/New Zealand, after a fabulous 6 day passage from Tonga. We reported to you daily about the trip but not about our 3 weeks stay there. So that there won't be a gap in our logbook entries I shall write a bit about it, and maybe one or the other would like to know what we did there. I'll come back soon with the news from our first 2 months in Austria, so that you are finally up-to-date again.

New Zealand is very strict with their entry restrictions in terms of food, plants, animals, etc. to avoid any way for diseases and illnesses to enter the country. So therefore each boat has to be inspected before one can step on land. We arrived at 6pm and the immigration office was already closed which meant we had to spend the night at the quarantine dock, which is located in the middle of the bay with no access to land. We did not mind it at all because that way we had time to clean up and enjoy a good night sleep while it was storming 30 knots outside.

Early next morning the immigration and quarantine officers came and our biggest worry was Matey, since it is difficult to bring animals and can also get quite expensive, we also had heard a lot of horror stories already. Thanks to well done pre-work and some luck it all went very smoothly. Our plans were to leave the country with the cat within a month so we were a very unique case to the authorities anyways. We were able to leave her on board, although she was not allowed to step on land at all, which really wasn't a problem with her being shy as it is. Also the export to Austria was rather uneventful again thanks to Roberts good arrangements up front and the very nice quarantine officers that helped us. Well and now our little abandoned Mexican cat is well traveled, a true Schmid! Even though it all was not exactly for free we are very happy to have her here and it totally was worth its money. She is such an easy, loving and cuddling cat - now we only miss Broesel in our family...!

The three weeks were pretty much filled out packing up Lawur, it was almost as much as packing up a house...! It was an enormous help to have Frank for 2 weeks and he was very helpful to speed it all up. We had a slip in the marina the whole time and also rented the storage right from them. We were able to bring it all up in the little marina carts which saved us the loading into the car (we rented one) and driving it somewhere. Now we've got all our belongings spread over the world - the house stuff in California and the boat things in New Zealand.... We call ourselves "Modern Nomads".

Since we were one of the first ones to leave from Tonga we had all our friends arrive after us which for once was a nice change to welcome them. Usually it always took us longer to get to places and it was fun to explore and find out all the things around the area for them this time and pass it on to the new arrivals. We came across this fun circus park, where we made arrangements to go to a week later with a big group of cruisers. Carol and Freddie Osler-Weppenaar, a former world known trapeze artist couple from South Africa, has opened this park a year ago in the small village of Paihia also in the Bay of Islands. It is the only place in the world where as an amateur you can fly on the trapeze and do the tide rope without using a harness. There are also huge slides, monkey bars, a  super loooong water slide and many more great attractions. Freddie and Carol, now in their fifties, were successful trapeze artists and world champions in the 70's, traveling with many famous circuses around the world. The last 20 years they produced and managed the Australian and New Zealand circuses and are both still very passionate and enthusiastic to teach this art. Freddie also invented a very unique way of being caught when falling down - big air bags, which are super soft and easy to fall into. We were about 20 people and everybody had a great time, young or older it offered something for everyone. Lisa from Ohana Kai was very much in her element since she was a passionate gymnast in her young years and once again could do her little tricks. Our youngest one, Benjamin, also did great, he could hardly reach the bar but swung beautifully and had no fear falling down this enormous height. Robert managed to swing from one bar to the other (among many others in the group) and even I had the courage to go up and do it a few times (although I was quite nervous I have to admit). Sebastian worked hard to walk across the rope and was able to come more than halfway, but a day is too little to practice for such an act... You can find photos on our webpage which will give you a better "picture" about it.

The school in the quaint, little harbor village Opua is very much geared towards cruising families and offers without to take kids for just a day, a week or longer to participate in their program (certainly with a fee). We took advantage of this opportunity and the boys first went two days by themselves and the rest of the week their friends Tristan and Matthew (SV Ohana Kai) and Jamie (SV Esprit) joined in. They all had a good time - kids and mom(teacher)s and a welcome change for us all. For our kids it also was a good introduction to enter school in Austria in January. We had successfully finished our school year (for  Sebastian 3rd grade and Benjamin preschool/kindergarten) early November and enjoyed a few weeks well deserved holidays.

The social life did not come short either with all the arrivals of our friends and fellow cruisers whom we met over the last year. The ones who do come to New Zealand usually start in Opua (one of the easier places to immigrate) and either stay there for the season or move on further South to Auckland or so. Many of the boats we had been interacting with a lot but quite a few we had not seen for a while, so therefore it was great fun to see everybody again on many local yacht club nights. The kids were in heaven with all their friends again and always busy riding scooters, building forts (that the maintenance guy made them take down - sniff), playing on each other boats,... We also celebrated the American Thanksgiving Feast at the yacht club and at the end of our 3 weeks some of our closer friends arranged a potluck afternoon on the dock as a farewell to everybody leaving for near and far places. Lisa and Bruce (SV Ohana Kai) were wonderful to watch the boys and let us stay with them, the last few days so that Robert and I could pack up last things on Lawur before we took her out on the dry dock. It is amazing that it never fails to have still so many things to do in the end, regardless of how well prepared and organized one is... Because of that we had little time to do some sightseeing - but we'll be back that's for sure! On November 28th it was very hard for each one of us to say good bye to friends, the boat, the adventure and the last 12 months.

It really was a wonderful time, experience and live that we all thoroughly enjoyed. I thought I'll write down a few of the most important and wonderful aspects of it:

- We enjoyed to be together so much - we managed our daily lives 24 hours, 7 days a week well and amazingly did not get sick of each other. As a matter of fact, except some minor "quarrels" (which one has wherever they are) we never got into a huge fight - even though we were living on such a small space! The two years before were a good preparation for us and showed us that we felt cozy and at home on Lawur, which made it definitely easier for everybody's well being on board. The thing that bugged us the most I think was, that we had to really be tidy and that it was difficult to get things out of cupboards because you had 5 things come out first before you got the one you wanted....

- The kids and I started to have a really good school routine and discipline, which we all had fun with. Even though every day seemed to be different and we probably did only an average of 3 days a week, finishing successfully after 9 months. We were very proud of them! I really enjoyed teaching and of course there were many lows, but to see that I/we can teach them things also for life was very rewarding.

- We had no idea how many other "crazy" ones we would find out there... Our circle of friends once again got enriched by so many interesting and great people. There always was this one thing that we had in common - the decision to go cruising... With many we bonded quickly  and developed hopefully friendships for life, with some the time of our travels was what got us together. Each one on its own was a wonderful enrichment for this experience and life. There is an enormous camaraderie within boaters, sometimes hard to experience in "real" life, and we totally underestimated it before. We learned to make contacts even faster and thoroughly cherish the time that we were given together. I certainly hope that we will meet some of our friends again sometime in our lives, somewhere in the world again!

- The opportunity to see so many different countries, places and people was one of the motivations to do this whole trip. When I look at pictures now or see a documentation/show of the South Pacific on TV, I can only appreciate fully that we got to see it and be there. We had not realized before though that we do actually stay a tourist, are "only" passing through and won't get to meet or have close contacts with the locals that often (except our 6 week stay in Toau/Tuamotus), but still got a glimpse of the culture and country more than on "just a holiday". We learned a lot of things, that aren't strange to us and especially the kids anymore. Our horizon broadened and I am extremely thankful for that. The step to this whole adventure wasn't always easy, had it's price and was a lot more prep-work than we thought it would be, but it all was worth its efforts, that's for sure!

- I am also grateful that we never got to be in a real dangerous situation. I think with a well prepared plan and a portion of luck we had a successful sailing trip. The actual sailing part for us is only the "vehicle" to get there and we did not turn out to be the passionate sailors at all, but I recon we still learned a great deal about boating and us. Robert was an exceptional good captain, whom we all trusted fully and he never did anything irrational, always being capable of any situation (we were in). After a few months each one of us had their role and we were a great team - I also only realize the magnitude of that now being off the boat.

Well, I guess this is enough -  although there is so much to tell... But I thought I should share some of my thoughts with you. Like I promised in the beginning, I'll be sending a report about our first few months in Austria soon.

Till then lots of dear greetings and hugs to you all - close and far Yours the 4 Schmids Niki, Robert, Sebastian und Benjamin plus Matey

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